“If we don’t want to necessarily repeat a lot of the tough lessons of the last 40 to 50 years,” said retired Marine Corps Lieutenant General Richard Zilmer. “Better to plan now and get ahead of that — and control the process — than react to it.”

❝ The quest for cleaner and more efficient energy systems is already forging new trade ties and, consequently, political relationships, according to a report by Zilmer and 14 other former high-ranking military officials. Ultimately, those ties will bring “dramatic changes in global spheres of influence,” they wrote. China and European Union members are steering their economies into “the vanguard of manufacturing” and commerce, with the U.S. showing little competitive vision.

❝ Dismissing multiple decades of research into manmade climate change has been a common theme among Republicans who control Congress and now the White House. Dismissing market forces that push nations and industries to clean up while becoming more energy efficient, however, is another thing. The CNA Military Advisory Board report doesn’t mention “climate change” or “global warming,” but it makes clear that ignoring these market signals carries ominous implications for U.S. economic and national security.

❝ The report, called Advanced Energy and U.S. National Security [pdf], is the seventh analysis put out in 10 years by the nonprofit research group’s advisory board. Initiated in 2015, the study was led by 14 U.S. generals and admirals and a retired British Royal Navy rear admiral.

I doubt the current leadership of Congressional Republicans and their pimp in the White House could name very many military-based specialists in global energy policy. And I doubt Robert E. Lee wrote enough on the topic to catch their attention either.

CNA’s previous Military Advisory Board reports include: National Security and the Threat of Climate Change; Powering America’s Defense: Energy and the Risks to National Security; Ensuring America’s Freedom of Movement: A National Security Imperative to Reduce U.S. Oil Dependence; National Security and the Accelerating Risks of Climate Change; and the CNA MAB’s most recent work, National Security and Assured U.S. Electrical Power. More information about the CNA MAB, including an archive of all past reports, can be found on the CNA MAB’s website https://www.cna.org/mab/
See also links in “Trump is jeopardizing Pentagon’s efforts to fight climate change, retired military leaders fear : Unlike Republicans, Department of Defense does not view climate change as a partisan issue.” https://thinkprogress.org/former-defense-officials-see-climate-action-lagging-e550994d65/